Chapter Thirteen:

Andromeda slowly sat next to Molly as Cedrella brought over the tea. She sat up as straight as she could, thanking her softly for the tea.

"So, Miss Black," started Mrs. Prewitt.

"Mrs. Prewitt, please forgive me for interrupting, but I'd like it if you called me Andromeda," she said quietly. She took a polite sip of her tea.

"Oh, of course! Andromeda," she said with a smile. "Will you tell us about yourself and Ted?"

She nearly choked on her tea and swallowed instead, taking a shaky breath. "Do...do you mean...like, how we met?"

Mrs. Prewitt smiled cheerfully. "Yes, how you met, how you got together, that sorta stuff!"

Andromeda looked to Molly desperately for help. Molly seemed to understand, and keeping her own opinions to herself, she said, "Mum, Andromeda and Ted are in a secret relationship. She isn't allowed to date muggles."

Mrs. Prewitt nodded. "Yes, Molly. I know."

Andromeda started to speak, slowly, uncertainly, "Um, Ted and I, we are in the same year. We met in first year. My sisters, they uh, Bella mostly, told me not to talk to mud-uh, muggles. She said it was below my dignity to even know their names. I forgot all of their names...except for Ted's."

She looked cautiously back to Molly, who was eyeing her mug of tea in silence. She took another sip before continuing, "Fast forward until 6th year. I was by myself so I sat in a compartment on the train with Ted, Arthur, Molly, Alice, and Frank. I guess it all stemmed from there."

They were still staring at her patiently, waiting for her to continue. Instead, she remained silent, sipping her tea.

"You stutter a lot. For being a daughter of the Black family," Cedrella noted.

Andromeda bit her tongue, hoping her face didn't flush. "I, uh, yeah. I know. I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley. It's a bad habit."

Cedrella continued, sounding frightfully like her own mother, "And you blush too much, you don't hold eye contact, and you look like a deer in headlights."

She cautiously glanced up to Cedrella, and saw she was smiling. This frightened Andromeda even more, as her mother had always frowned and glared. "I know, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry."

Cedrella laughed then, causing Andromeda to cast her frightened gaze to Molly.

"Miss Andromeda, you remind me of myself when I first left the family," she stood, still smiling, and poured some more tea. "More tea?"

Andromeda shook her head. "No thank you."

"Yes, please," replied Molly.

Cedrella then fixed Andromeda a kind look, and she realized that Arthur resembled his mother quite a bit. "Andromeda," she started.

There was a loud yell from outside. Andromeda leapt up, concerned, glancing outside to see Ted falling. She sprinted outside, sweeping over to where Ted had fallen.

"Meda, I'm fine," he grumbled, but when he stood, he winced and grimaced a great deal.

She crossed her arms glaring at him. After waving her wand and muttering a few spells, he straightened without pain. "Now you are."

Ted smiled at her. "So how was your tea party?"

She glanced back to see Cedrella, Mrs. Prewitt, and Molly standing behind them.

"It's, we'll, it was fun."

The Weasley boys had landed. Fabian and Gideon did as well.

"Andromeda, this is Bilius and Charles," introduced Ted. He smiled fondly at her. "Bilius, Charles, this is my girlfriend."

Bilius, the darker haired one, snorted. "Ted, you're such a sap."

Charles snickered. "You're not much better, Bills."

Ted was staring at Andromeda, frowning a little. When she caught his frown, he started to grin again. "Meda, you're really not used to home and family life, are you?"

She blushed, pushing him away. "Honestly, Ted! What gave you that idea?"

He smiled modestly. "I don't know, maybe the fact you seem really uncomfortable here."

Andromeda looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry. You're right. I just am uncomfortable, I'm scared they don't like me, I'm scared I'll insult one of them...Ted, I'm the wrong person for you. You're so comfortable here, you're just..."

Ted chuckled, putting his arm around her. "I wouldn't go quite so far to say that. Really, you and Mrs. Weasley are more alike than you think. She left the Black family because she fell in love with Mr. Weasley."

"That's why she hates me!" she whispered.

Ted smiled, rolling his eyes. "You're being irrational, love. Come on, if she hates you so much, I'll stay with you to make sure those devious Weasleys don't gang up on the frightened Black girl."

Andromeda held tightly to his arm as he led her inside. Inside, to a warehouse, to a loud family, where everyone inside loved each other and teased up of love, not out of mocking. Andromeda really hadn't known so much love could happen.

And it opened up her eyes to how much Ted truly cared about her. Not only that, she felt her heart swell with love for him, more love than she had ever felt before. That was when she decided, she had to find a way to tell Ted Tonks she loved him.